Doyel: This was Purdue best win of the season — and yes, Tyler Trent's presence was all over Mackey Arena

The Boilermakers coach on his team attacking the rim, finding defensive consistency, Tyler Trent's legacy and more.
Nathan Baird, jconline.com

Purdue guard Carsen Edwards (3) and forward Aaron Wheeler (1) celebrate a basket against Iowa during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game in West Lafayette, Ind., Thursday, Jan. 3, 2019. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)(Photo: The Associated Press)

WEST LAFAYETTE – It’s building at Purdue. You can see that. The house isn’t ready to go on the market, not yet, but the Boilermakers are constructing something sturdy as the season goes along and more and more support emerges for All-American Carsen Edwards, who remains one of the best players in college basketball — and is starting to be surrounded by a team deserving of his talents.

Edwards was the star Thursday night in Purdue’s 86-70 smackdown of No. 25 Iowa. He’s always the star on this team, scoring at least 19 points in each game this season, one of just two players in Division I to reach that mark every time out. The other, Chris Clemons, plays for Campbell and is No. 1 in the country in scoring (29.6 ppg entering Thursday), with Edwards at No. 2 (25.8 ppg). Edwards hit the 19-point mark less than three minutes into the second half, staring down rangy, 6-5 Iowa guard Isaiah Moss, waiting for Matt Haarms to run over and set a screen, then waiting for Haarms to run somewhere else, then drilling a 3-pointer in Moss’ face for a 59-40 Purdue lead.

It was all but over, Purdue pushing its lead to 26 and keeping it near that for most of the second half, Iowa not getting within 20 until there were less than three minutes left. And when it happened, yes, there was a moment of panic at Mackey Arena. Edwards was on the bench by then, ostensibly done for the night with 21 points in 28 minutes. The crowd of 13,701 was grumbling after Iowa’s double-double machine Tyler Cook cut the deficit to 84-67, and Purdue coach Matt Painter was pointing to Carsen Edwards, directing him back into the game.

Edwards walked to the scorer’s table and lowered himself to a seated position. Meanwhile, on the court, Purdue junior Evan Boudreaux was sinking a 3-pointer to push the lead back to 20. Painter walked over to Edwards and pointed him back to the bench. More grumbling from the crowd — they wanted to see a little bit more of Purdue’s most exciting player in a generation.

What they saw instead was a Purdue team (9-5, 2-1 Big Ten) that can right itself when things are going wrong, even with Edwards on the bench. Moreover, what they saw was another layer of brick and mortar going up on a rebuilding program that has been wobbly at times this season after the departures of Vincent Edwards, Dakota Mathias, Isaac Haas and P.J. Thompson.

“That’s a lot of offense we lost,” said Purdue redshirt freshman Aaron Wheeler.

A lot of defense, too. And playmaking. Plus leadership. Without that foursome Purdue has struggled (2-5) away from Mackey Arena, where the Boilermakers are 7-0 — a record that could, just maybe, skew what we saw Thursday night.

But maybe not.

See, even with the Mackey advantage — since the start of the 2015-16 season, Purdue is 55-4 at home — the Boilermakers didn’t exactly look great earlier this season at home. They certainly didn’t look, even in a 62-60 win against Maryland on Dec. 6 that had been their best of the season, as good as they looked Thursday night: deeper, more dangerous, much more than Carsen Edwards and whatever else Painter can scrape together.

No scraping on Thursday night. Matt Haarms was coming off the bench to score 14 points and grab five rebounds and block two shots in 15 minutes. Aaron Wheeler was dunking and hitting a 3-pointer just 54 seconds apart, and finishing with 10 points in 19 minutes. And best of all, if not biggest of all, is the growing contribution of true freshman class — Wheeler and Sasha Stefanovic (five points, two steals) are redshirt freshmen — that had been mostly missing this season.

Not anymore. Eric Hunter, the scoring machine out of Tindley who finished his high school career ranked seventh in state history with 2,584 points, is looking more and more comfortable. He scored six points and darted into the lane before spinning and scooping a pass to Edwards for a 3-pointer. In the past three games, over a span of 50 minutes, Hunter has scored 26 points.

The freshman coming along the fastest is 6-9, 280-pound project Trevion Williams, who scored 16 points, total, in the first 10 games of the season — and has scored 23 in the last four. He added four more Thursday, hitting two baskets in six minutes and defending Tyler Cook hard, slapping the ball away from him on one possession, knocking it out of bounds and shaking his head at Iowa’s best player: No.

The emergence of Hunter and Williams, the rapid improvement of Aaron Wheeler — averaging 7.5 ppg since Dec. 1, third on the team — and the move of Haarms to the second unit has given Painter something of substance when his starters need a break.

“We’re not losing much when we sub. At times we’re getting better,” Painter said. “It’s what you need.”

Action from Purdue's win against Iowa in West Lafayette on Thursday January 3, 2019. Purdue defeated the Hawkeyes 86-70.(Photo: Frank Oliver/For the Journal & Courier)

Tyler Trent's presence was strong

This game, this resounding victory against a ranked team, was needed for a Purdue community still processing the loss of 20-year-old Tyler Trent, who died Tuesday night after a five-year fight with cancer. Trent became a national name — a cancer-fighting, inspiration-giving symbol of courage — during football season, but he was a Purdue student above all else, a beloved member of this school’s family, and yes, a Boilermakers basketball fan.

As such, he was honored on Thursday night by players on both teams, who wore #TylerStrong warmup shirts, and celebrated several times at Mackey Arena. Before the national anthem, Purdue played a video tribute to Tyler, followed by a moment of silence. The first television timeout began at Mackey with a message on the scoreboard video screen from Purdue president Mitch Daniels, who said Tyler showed courage “most of us cannot duplicate” and invited fans to a candlelight vigil on campus Wednesday. The first sound of halftime was another message about Tyler on the videoboard, this one promoting his book, “The Upset,” and noting his stated goal of raising $1 million for pediatric cancer research.

Action from Purdue's win against Iowa in West Lafayette on Thursday January 3, 2019. Purdue defeated the Hawkeyes 86-70.(Photo: Frank Oliver/For the Journal & Courier)

Under one basket, below the iconic sign reading “Defense Lives Here … Play Hard” — complete with a counter where a Purdue student flips over a new number (1, 2, 3 …) every time Purdue makes a hustle play — was a picture of Tyler Trent being that student. The picture looked to be from his freshman year. He was younger, thicker, a head full of hair that chemotherapy hadn’t taken yet. In the picture, Tyler is flipping over a new number on the “Play Hard” counter. Above the picture is a yellow carnation, and the words:

Less than a half-hour after the game, Matt Painter was asked about Tyler’s impact. Understand, his team had just played — by far — its best game of the season, and had done it against the No. 25-ranked team in the country. But here’s what the Purdue coach said:

“It’s hard as a coach,” he said, “because you put so much into a game of basketball. In reality, in 10 years, who cares if Purdue beat Iowa (tonight)? Right now it’s a big deal, when in reality it’s not a big deal. (Tyler) kind of opened our eyes to that with his spirit … the strength that he showed, and showed how we can care for others.”